Autoantibodies to transcriptional regulation proteins DEK and ALY in a patient with systemic lupus erythematosus

A human cDNA expression library that was used to investigate the nature of autoantigens recognized by the serum from a patient with systemic lupus ery thematosus revealed the presence of antibodies directed against two transcr iptional regulation protein: DEK, a site-specific 45 kD DNA binding protein , likely involved in signal transduction and transcriptional regulation, an d a novel 28 kD protein that showed a 94% homology with murine ALY, a nucle ar protein that plays a role in regulating the activity of TCR alpha enhanc er complex. Whereas autoantibodies directed to epitopes on DEK are commonly found in patients with pauciarticular onset juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, autoantibodies against ALY have not been described and their occurrence ha s led to the cloning of the cDNA sequence of the first member of the human ALY family. (C) American Society for Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics, 1999. Published by Elsevier Science Inc.